ROTHGEB: Holidays present challenges for pet owners

For anyone who has ever been around a cat during the holidays, you’ve probably seen the pose.

Your furry friend sits a few feet in front of the Christmas tree ---- its tail swishing slowly across the floor like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. You can almost hear the wheels turning inside that little brain as the next move is carefully plotted. Then, swiftly and without warning …. POUNCE!

We may have no idea what goes on in a cat’s, or dog’s, head at times like these, but it’s obvious that Christmas presents new challenges for both them and us. And that’s why we have to be a little more diligent about protecting our pets around this time of year.

Even time spent under a Christmas tree can be a little harrowing, according to Debbie Harris, office manager at the Mountainview Small Animal Hospital in Lake Elsinore.

“We see a lot of shock burns to little mouths around Christmas,” Harris said. “Cats can be pretty bad about chewing on electrical cords that are found under a tree. So people have to be careful about that.”

For the animal world, the holidays must be a time for exploration. Different things start popping up around the house and it’s hard to keep their little noses out of them.

Harris remembers a few years ago that a young Dachshund, belonging to a worker at the animal hospital, enjoyed tearing through Christmas gifts.

“Dogs are notorious for unwrapping presents and this one got into a package with food in it,” Harris said. “He ate 2 pounds of pistachio nuts.”

Think for a moment about how messy that must have been.

Pets can’t tolerate certain foods that you connect with the holidays. Chocolate, for instance, contains theobromine, which a dog’s digestive system can’t break down. The darker the chocolate, Harris said, the worse the problem could become.

She remembers one dog being treated after consuming two dozen, chocolate chip cookies from a plate he yanked from a kitchen counter. He ended up like a little kid who eats too much at the county fair.

The same caution should also be given to feeding Christmas dinner table scraps to pets, especially if they contain onions or garlic. The little guys just can’t put that stuff through their systems.

Cats often eat tinsel from a tree and that can create problems, Harris said. They also go for holiday plants, however the worst offender in that category comes at Easter. Lilies can send a cat right to a veterinarian.

“It’s best to keep plants out of reach for a cat,” Harris said.

Most of these problems aren’t too serious, but they can be uncomfortable to the pet and costly to the pet owner.

The more life-threatening problems come from man-made products, such as anti-freeze, that often attracts animals because of its smell, and pain-killers usually found in a medicine cabinet.

In this economy, Harris said, people sometimes can’t afford to take their pets to a veterinarian. So they treat them themselves.

“Never, ever give Tylenol or Advil to a dog or cat,” Harris said. “That’s just taking a minor situation and turning it into something major.”

If you know of someone who might make for a good column, call Jim Rothgeb at (951) 676-4315, ext. 2621, or email jrothgeb@californian.com.